


Cacophony of Color

by highestkingbambi



Series: The Welters Challenge 2018 [1]
Category: The Magicians (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Genre: Alternate Universe, Artistic Licence taken with Paintball rules, Bigby still teaches Battle Magic, Fen is an exchange student from an unspecified location, Gen, Julia has been left out in the cold for a long time but there’s no reynard, Just a little bit of Community inspired fun, No Beast, No Missing Third Year Class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 12:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14472933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highestkingbambi/pseuds/highestkingbambi
Summary: At the whims of a couple of intoxicated professors, the students of Brakebills find themselves competing in a game of paintball for the ultimate magic prize.





	Cacophony of Color

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for the Welters Challenge Week 2
> 
> This AU has elements lifted mostly from the show, but a handful from the books.
> 
> It’s very heavily influenced by the Paintball episodes of Community.
> 
> I apologise for any characters that are underdeveloped, of which there are many in this, I love them all, but it’s already quite long.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> P.S big thanks to WildeBones for the encouragement when I was stuck halfway through, and to norabombay who put the Community plot bunny into my head.

Work study with Dean Fogg had taken significantly longer than Todd anticipated. Apparently, the publishers had moved up the deadline for his memoirs, which meant that any semblance of a social life that Todd previously had was now a mere echo in his mind. 

By the time he left the Dean’s office, it was dusk and the main campus was eerily deserted. Todd figured that there must have been a party at one of the discipline houses, but since he hadn’t heard about it, that couldn't be right. That was the beauty of being Todd, he may not have the gravitas of a guy like Eliot, or the skill with party favors like Josh, but everyone liked him and he was always invited to every party on campus. 

Slightly perturbed about being out of the loop, he slipped his hands into his jean pockets and walked back to the Cottage where he determined to find someone who knew where the night's activities were being held.

He had hardly made it passed the Van Dyke Fountain when a hooded stranger tackled him to the ground.

“What the fuck?” he asked as he scrambled to get up, but his assailant had him pinned to the ground.

“Stay down if you want to live,” the hooded assailant said with a voice that seemed a little put on. ”Or at least if you want to avoid ruining that vest we both know you stole.” 

The hood was removed to reveal Josh holding him down and Todd started to wonder if he hadn't fallen asleep at his desk again.

“All clear.” A second voice called out to them, and over Josh’s shoulder, he noticed the exchange student Fen, crouched behind a trash can, an assault rifle in her hands.

“Okay, seriously guys, what the fuck is happening?” 

“You don't know?” Josh looked at him like he'd just asked what air was. “Dude, if we didn't need a third person for our team, I would shoot you right now.”

”Explain it to him while we get inside,” Fen ordered, and Josh pulled Todd up from the ground and ushered him through the doors of the nearest building and into a small abandoned classroom. 

“We’re in the middle of the most important game of Paintball in your life,” Josh explained as he pulled a pistol out from a holster hidden under his hoodie and held it out for Todd to take. “Teams of three, winners take all.” 

“Just tell him what the prize is!” Fen insisted, back towards them while she guarded the door. 

For the first time, Todd noticed the bandolier over her shoulder to match her rifle. He fumbled with his new pistol and tried to not to stare. Todd had always had a crush on her, and the way she commanded them around just made it worse.

“Of course, first prize! If we win, we each get one of Mayakovsky's batteries, to use for whatever we want, no questions asked.”

Todd didn't need to be told twice. He had no idea what he would do with a battery worth at least ten master magicians, but that was not a prize anyone could pass up.

**Three hours earlier**

Quentin had given up expecting his days at Brakebills University to make any sense. 

Halfway through Practical Applications, Professor March had frozen in place, and the class was dragged out to the Sea by an invisible leash. They arrived to join the entire student body of Brakebills University where they aimlessly milled around and waited for instructions. At the front of the crowd, Quentin found Eliot and Margo who told him that Sunderland too had been rendered immobile during their lecture, and no one had any clue why.

Professors Lipson and Bigby materialized before them and sat balanced on the concrete balustrade in front of the house. Each had a half-empty bottle of vodka in hand, and a glazed look in their eyes that told everyone those bottles had only recently been opened.

“You're probably wondering why we brought you out here?” Bigby addressed the students first.

”Because men are dicks!” Lipson yelled out and nearly fell from where she sat.

“Well, yes. That's A reason,” Bigby continued, the more level-headed of the intoxicated educators. “But darling, that's not why we brought the kids out here is it?” The pixie leaned over to her colleague and steadied her. Satisfied Lipson wouldn't fall, she revealed her wings and hovered before the audience. 

“You have five minutes to get into groups of three. I suggest you choose your partners wisely,” she instructed. 

“What for?” 

“Does this count towards our grades?” 

“Do we have to?”

First years looked to their older friends who were just as confused. Whatever the Professors had in mind, it was not a scheduled part of the curriculum.

“Just do it,” Lipson slurred, clearly more drunk than Bigby.

“Trust us, you're going to have so much fun...and the prize, oh it's so good,” Bigby beamed. “But also, darlings, you don't have a choice. Three minutes left to choose your teams!”

Quentin crossed his arms over his chest and buried his hands in his elbows. Picking teams brought up terrible middle school memories of being left behind, and this time he didn’t have Julia to make it better. 

“Oh Q.” Eliot said as he wrapped his arms around Quentin’s shoulders. “Look how nervous he is, Bambi.”

“It’s like he doesn't know that we've already chosen him,” Margo added, and Quentin lit up in front of them. He had worried for nothing. 

Around them, the students all gathered in their groups of three. Quentin could see that his only first-year friend, Alice, had joined with the endlessly irritating lovebirds, Penny and Kady.

“Three, two, one,” Bigby counted down the seconds. Snap. With the click of her fingers, each student found a gun had appeared in one of their hands, while a cartridge of paint-filled bullets appeared in the other. “It's Paintball time darlings!”

“You better tell them some rules so I don’t have to reopen the campus morgue,” Lipson took a large swig of the vodka and leaned forward to place her head between her knees. 

Quentin prayed she wouldn't throw up.

“Right, of course. First rule. You get hit, you're out. Second rule. Defensive spells only. If I see anyone attack another student using anything but paint, you're automatically disqualified and probably expelled,” Bigby giggled, but everyone knew from experience that she was serious. “Third and final rule is just for Penny and Victoria.”

“Let me guess, no traveling?”

“Exactly! But also, and this goes for everyone, don't tell the rest of the staff, they’ll be such sore losers that we didn't discuss this with them.”

“You still didn't tell us what we're playing for,” Margo’s voice boomed in Quentin's ear. “This is a nice jacket, I'm not risking it for some drunken bitch’s power trip,” she added quietly, just for the boys beside her to hear. 

“You're playing for this, Miss Hanson.” Lipson straightened herself up and pulled a silver sphere the size of a baseball from her purse. “There's one for each member of your team to do with as you please.”

Silence fell over the students. They had all survived their time at Brakebills South. Everyone knew exactly what she held.

“Run along children. Go on, the game has begun!” Bigby shooed them, and the students began to disperse.

“Sumerian shield around me, right now,” Margo ordered her teammates through gritted teeth as she shoved the cartridge into her gun. “Let's blow these fuckers.” 

Shots rang out through the barrier that Quentin and Eliot made, with a precision that suggested Margo was no stranger to the game of Paintball. Students dropped to the ground, their clothes splattered with purple blotches before others worked out the same idea and a cacophony of color rained down around them.

“We should head for the Clock Tower,” Eliot suggested between repeats of the spell that protected them from return fire. “Higher ground and all that.”

——

“Wait, so you're telling me, two Professors got drunk and started this game? It's not like part of a secret Trials or anything?” Todd tried to get up to speed after being filled in with everything his new teammates knew about the game.

“Pretty much, no one has any idea why, but hey, who are we to question it?” Josh shrugged.

“Who cares? This is so exhilarating,” said Fen. “I already have five kills!”

“She means she's knocked five people out so far, no one has killed anyone,” Josh clarified after seeing the mildly terrified look on Todd’s face.

Todd heard a whooshing sound and felt the rush of cool air fill the room. He turned to see Victoria, Josh’s girlfriend standing before them, looking simultaneously concerned and irritated. 

“V, you came back?” Josh tried to go to her, but she pushed him away.

“I haven’t forgiven you, there are more important things at stake than where you stick your dick,” she said, and Todd had never been gladder not to be someone else. “You need to come with me right now.” 

Victoria grabbed a hold of both Todd and Fen and gestured to Josh to take their hands too. Within an instant, they had left the small room and arrived in the AP lab, only to face down a half dozen guns cocked and ready to splatter them with paint. 

“Calm down,” Victoria threw her hands in the air. “I didn't bring you here to kill each other. Now can someone please finish the wards on this room?”

Todd noticed Alice, who was the first to drop her aim. She holstered her pistol and started the spell that would keep any other players out. 

Gradually the others lowered their weapons too and Todd took the chance to see who else Victoria had assembled. 

Margo sat perched upon the bench holding a sniper rifle in her lap and what looked like a shotgun peered out from behind her back. If he had thought the sight of warrior Fen had turned him on, he was doubly aroused by the addition of Margo unwittingly cosplaying The Walking Dead. 

Next to her, Eliot leaned against the bench smoking and Todd was forced to do a double take. Eliot wore a hoodie, something Todd hadn't believed was even a remote possibility. He raised an eyebrow to question the bizarre sight, but Quentin answered it for him. The first year stole the cigarette from the older student’s fingers and flicked the ash on the bench before it landed on the sleeves.

All three had dirt on their faces and leaves in their hair. Quentin’s henley was torn at the shoulder and his knees were covered in mud. Whatever had occurred before he joined the game must have been brutal. 

On the opposite side of the room, he saw Kady and Penny deep in conversation. They didn't look anywhere near as disheveled as the other team, which surprised him even more. Then again Kady also had a shotgun in her hands and was Bigby’s best Battle Magic student, so anyone on her team did have an unfair advantage. 

“You’re the only students left in the game,” said Victoria.

Every gun in the room was immediately aimed at the opposing teams. Even Todd found himself lining Quentin up, though he wasn’t certain he had it in him to shoot.

“Can you please stop trying to shoot each other until I tell you what I found out?”

Guns still aimed, they gave her a chance to explain. 

“Somehow word got out about the prize and now Irene McAllister, you know the woman on the school board who tried to buy this place outright and make it for profit, has brought a team in to beat you.”

“She can't do that!” Quentin exclaimed.

“Bigby and Lipson wouldn't allow it,” Margo added, though her tone was far less sure than her words.

“Lipson got so drunk, she's passed out in the infirmary...and apparently Fogg fired Bigby this morning,” Victoria shrugged. “She made the rules, so I guess she can change them.”

“Yeah, no, that's not going to happen,” Eliot said, “Also, would you all stop aiming your guns, Todd is somehow wearing one of my vests and if anyone gets a drop of paint on it, I will murder you, actually Todd, take that off and give it here.” Eliot walked over to Todd, arm outstretched. “Chop, chop,” he insisted, and Todd frantically removed the vest to give to his idol.

“I didn’t,” he tried to apologize but Eliot waved him off. 

Eliot folded the vest and swapped it with Quentin for the cigarette he had stolen earlier. To Todd’s dismay, Quentin promptly placed the vest in his messenger bag. He felt a pang of jealousy at the display of familiarity between his fellow Physical Kids. Todd had been around longer than Quentin and had more than once offered to be Eliot’s bagman to no avail.

“If she gets the batteries, that could give her leverage to buy the school,” Alice thought out loud. Now finished the wards, she had rejoined the group.

“No fucking way I’m letting that happen,” Kady said as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and hit Penny in the face with the long loose curls.

“Guys, what happens after we beat them? There’s still only three batteries and I'm not saying I'll shoot you, but I definitely don't trust you guys not to shoot me,” Josh enquired, his pistol raised in defense in case they took it the wrong way.

“Then we all make a pact, whoever is still standing when we stop McAllister’s people, shares the prize with everyone here,” Penny offered his opinion and was met with muffled laughter and confused looks. “What are you looking at?” he confronted Quentin, the weakest link in the room.

“I just,” Quentin stammered.

“Leave him alone Penny, we’re just shocked,” Margo answered instead. “Didn't peg you as the teamwork kind of person.” 

“How do you even know all this?” Alice broke the tension and asked Victoria. 

“After I found out about what Josh did on spring break I did some astral projecting to try and calm myself,” the traveler explained. 

Josh opened his mouth to defend himself, only to close it when Victoria stared him down. 

“While you three were brawling in the Maze,” she pointed to the group at the front of the classroom. 

“I’ll have you know, I do not brawl,” Eliot interrupted with an air of indignation. 

“Hey, I was not going to let those illusionist assholes get their hands on the cache Lipson hid at the center of the Maze.” Margo ran her hands through her hair and tightened her ponytail, she clearly felt no shame for her actions.

Looking to his own group, Todd saw that they were just as confused as he was. Once again, he was relegated to those completely out of the loop. He wondered how Fen and Josh had even made it so far.

“How did you know about that?” Alice asked. “That was never announced.”

“We might not have a psychic, but it's not hard to get one to talk,” Quentin offered up.

“Okay, so we may have kidnapped a psychic and threatened to chop their balls off if they didn't tell us what Lipson was thinking. We all know it's so easy to read drunk people.” Margo smiled at the memory of intimidation. “Why didn't you go for it?”

“Because we’re not stupid, ” Kady snapped back. “We waited outside and shot everyone as they came out.”

The flash of anger that had crossed Margo’s face at Kady’s insult was quickly replaced by a look of admiration. Picking people off one by one as they left the Maze was an ingenious idea, and one she should have thought of herself.

“Enough! Do you want to help the school or not?” Victoria tried to bring them back to the point of her getting them all together. “While you were all fighting, I saw Bigby get a message, so I followed her to a meeting with McAllister. She offered her her job back for the batteries, but since Bigby loves to mess with people, she told her to win the game for it. Long story short, McAllister brought in some hedges, ex students, and apparently, she has a way to power them up.”

The separation between the groups was evidently well ingrained from the competition. Despite the new information and the consensus they needed to work together, they still remained three distinct entities, with an increasingly frustrated Victoria in the middle.

What made it harder, was that they had no idea who they needed to team up against. Hedges weren’t known for being anywhere near as good at magic as Brakebills students, but having the backing of someone from as prominent a magical family as the McAllister’s, suggested they would be no ordinary competitors. 

Circumstance decreed that they wouldn’t have enough time to work it out. As they argued over who would dictate strategy, the floorboards below them melted away. 

“Uh, guys, this isn’t supposed to happen right?” Todd’s voice broke as he brought his friends attention to the situation. 

“No,” answered Alice who had already noticed and began a spell to reveal the type of magic being used, but before anyone else could join in to assist, they all slipped through the opening. 

Surrounded by darkness, they crash landed hard in the center of the main quad. No protection in sight but for a few trees and the buildings that enclosed them. There was a lot of ground to cover and no indication of where they might be targeted from. Brought there via dark multi dimensional magic, the reality of their situation began to sink in. Whoever they were up against was not only strong, but they also had no issues skirting the lines of the woefully inadequate rules of the game.

“Grenade!” Margo screamed as a large projectile flew at them from somewhere to the south.

Unable to escape, they waited for the inevitable impact. 

“Stop fucking around!” Victoria yelled and dove onto it, disappearing before it had a chance to explode.

While half the group threw up shields, Josh and Fen started work on a defensive hedge that would hopefully protect them long enough to work out a plan of action. They quickly decided that they should split up, as far as they knew there were only three Hedge Witches to eliminate and they would be much easier to conquer once divided.

“You got lucky there, Q.”

A lone figure walked towards them from the same direction the grenade had been thrown. Dressed head to toe in tight black clothing, they could hardly see her but for the moonlight casting her shadow. Her paintball gun was strapped across her back, almost an afterthought, while she used her hands to cast a spell that killed the roots of their natural barricade faster than Josh and Fen could make it grow. 

“Julia?” Quentin said, almost a whisper, the pain of recognition deep.

“You know this bitch?”

“She was my best friend, she...didn’t pass the exam to get into Brakebills,” he answered with a hint of shame.

“You always knew this perfect life wouldn’t last forever, didn’t you?” Julia’s voice felt like ice running through their veins.

Unsure of himself after the shock of seeing Julia, Quentin failed to keep the shield up. A shot rang through and by what seemed like pure chance, it narrowly missed Kady who stepped out of the way at the very last moment. 

“Don’t look, but there is one directly across from where I’m facing, and the other one is over by the payphone,” Kady whispered, unfazed by her scrape with defeat.

“How can you tell?” Fen whispered back the question they all wanted to ask.

Kady lifted her arm and pointed to something on her wrist, but it was too dark for anyone to see.

“Perfect night vision? It’s an inkspell I did as a teenager, jeez, you’re all so green,” she admonished them. “Whatever, like we agreed, let’s split up. Penny, Alice and I will take the asshole who just shot at me. Fen, you, Josh and Todd go fuck up whoever is at the payphone, and you three take care of Quentin’s little problem.”

“Since when do you tell us what to do?” Margo hissed.

“Since I’m the only one who can fucking see,” Kady replied, not interested in arguing over it. 

“Fine. We go on three. One. Two. Three. GO!”

——

Alice took the lead as her team made their way towards their chosen opponent. Using the same strategy that had served them well for the first few hours of the game, she manipulated the light to render them invisible. 

In silence, they closed the distance from their exposed position in the center. Penny and Kady crouched behind her, hidden from sight, their guns ready to shoot as soon as their target came into sight. 

“How’s your mom doing, Kady?” 

Stopped in their tracks, they searched for clues as to where the voice came from.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who I am,” their opponent continued. “Nice trick by the way, such a shame I can still see your shadows.”

Recognising the honey dripped snark, Kady was unable to control the anger that rose in her chest. She should have known that any powerful team of hedge witches would have included Marina Andrieski. An ex-student, just as Victoria mentioned, and the cause of Kady’s mother’s banishment from practicing magic in New York. 

She pumped the action of her shotgun, aimed it in the direction of Marina and took her shot. Orange paint splattered all over, and Kady breathed a sigh.

“Tsk, tsk. I expected better from you,” Marina’s voice came from a different direction. They looked back to where the shot had landed, only to see the paint still suspended but the target had vanished. “I guess you haven’t reached the subject of mirrors yet.”

Bang. A handful of shots rang out. No time to bring up a shield, Alice moved to protect her teammates. Silver bullets landed with ferocity against her body, and she cried out in pain. 

“I didn’t think it would hurt this much,” she whimpered, knowing that in the morning she would be covered in nasty bruises. “It’s up to you now, don’t screw up.” Unable to play any longer, she left for the infirmary to get checked out.

Kady pumped her shotgun a second time and let off shot after shot while she stormed towards the direction Alice had been hit from. Next to her, Penny tutted to bring up a shield that could protect them both. Before he had finished the movements, he threw his hands in the air like a marionette, helpless. 

“Now you’re just wasting bullets,” Marina teased, while she revealed herself to be standing on the steps outside the dorms.

Concerned for her boyfriend, Kady held her fire. Reassured that he was okay despite the handicap, she refocused her aim and took another shot. At the same time, Marina took her own. The bullets passed each other in the blink of an eye. Penny grabbed hold of Kady and traveled a few feet to relative safety. They cried out with joy at the sight of Marina soaked in orange paint, but the celebration was short lived. Kady’s hair was stained with silver. She was also out.

“No traveling Mr Adiyodi,” Bigby appeared before them. “You did so well, darling, but now I have to disqualify you.”

Before they had a chance to confront her, the pixie had disappeared with a cursing Marina in tow.

“I guess it all rides on the others now,” Kady shrugged without a hint of hope.

“This place is screwed.”

——

Taking on the Hedge Witch near the school’s only payphone was a disaster from the get go. Josh walked through a tripwire and knocked himself out before they were even close enough to see the person they were up against. Todd hoped that the others were doing better than them. From the sound of it, they weren’t. 

With Josh out of the game, Todd took his place beside Fen. While she aimed her rifle, he kept up the shield that would protect them from any stray bullets.

Their opponent leaned against the column. Illuminated by the buzzing fluorescent lights, they saw he was dressed in a dark business suit and looked like he had far better things to be doing than playing games with a bunch of grad students.

With the flick of his wrist, the hedge witch had Fen slide to him, helpless to stop. Pulled into his arms, Fen couldn’t escape. A gun to her head and her own strapped right across her chest by his arms. Todd watched on with horror as he fumbled for his own gun. 

Armed with only a pistol, Todd aimed it at the man who held Fen hostage. His hands were damp with sweat, which made it near impossible to keep the gun steady. As a pacifist, he had no experience with firearms, real or for sport. In fact, he had been one of only a couple of students in his year group not to take Battle Magic as an elective. In any case, Todd was not equipped to handle a hostage situation.

Lucky for him, Fen was all over it. While he had been working up the courage to take a shot, she had slipped a paintball from her bandolier, elbowed her assailant in the abdomen and crushed the green paint against his chest. 

“Run, go help the others!” she yelled at him as she squirmed out of the hedge witch’s grasp.

Todd nearly tripped over his feet as he turned to run in the direction of the other teams. He came across Kady and Penny in the middle of the quad, but they pointed him in the direction of the library.

“Don’t be stupid okay,” Kady offered her backhanded encouragement. 

“Stay hidden until they knock that chick out, yeah,” Penny added before pushing him away.

With their advice, Todd skulked his way towards the library, where Margo, Eliot, and Quentin had followed Quentin’s friend earlier. He hoped that they had already taken care of her, she seemed more menacing than the guy Fen outsmarted. And that had already been too much for him.

——

The residual resentment between Julia and Quentin ran deep. Thankfully, it made her easy to lure into the Brakebills Library, where they could use desks and bookshelves to hide behind as they put Quentin’s plan into place. Margo was so proud of her little freshman recruit, his plan was almost ingenious, if a little played out.

While the other teams ran off to face down their opponents, Team Powerpuff, as she’d affectionately dubbed them, traded barbs with Julia and developed a plan. Their efforts in the Maze earlier that day left them with a surplus of ammunition. Something they should have shared with the other teams once they decided to work together, but no one asked about it and Margo wasn’t the kind to give away an advantage. Thanks to Quentin, they knew exactly what to do with it.

Huddled behind books on political magic, they listened for Julia’s footsteps. So far it had all gone as they wanted it to.

“Alright boys, now we got a lot of moving parts to this plan, so imma need you both to keep your shit together,” Margo always did love to give the pep talk. “Quentin, are you sure you got the juice for this spell?”

“Uh, Yeah. No, yes, I can do this,” Quentin responded, his inconsistent bravado gave her cause for concern.

“Q,” she stared him down.

“I got this Margo,” he said with confidence.

To reassure him, Margo squeezed his shoulder and gave him a peck on the cheek, before she turned to Eliot.

“Are you sure you want to be the sacrificial lamb El? It’s not a part I ever expected you to play,” she questioned him in earnest. 

“I’ve worn this tragic garment all day to protect my shirt, it’s only fitting it serves its actual purpose,” he replied, indicating the black hoodie he had borrowed from Quentin near the start of the game. 

The younger student moved to object, but their time for strategizing was over. Heeled boots left echoes on the wooden floorboards of the nearby aisles, and it wouldn’t be long before Julia discovered their hiding place. 

Quentin moved first, his fingers flicked as he chanted alternate lines of Arabic and French. The pile of paintballs they had collected between them rose into the air and melted together to form a large purple mass. On cue, Eliot stepped in front of him, and together they walked out to meet Julia. She had been pacing around the study desks, but quickly found her aim when they appeared before her. 

Julia shot Eliot without hesitation. Silver bullets plastered his body and it took all the strength in his legs not to fall back onto Quentin. 

“Hurry, Q, this actually really hurts,” he cried through gritted teeth. His love for the school that had taken him in was worth a light beating from a potentially homicidal hedge witch.

Quentin continued to chant, the mass of purple paint swirled above them into a sheet of suspended liquid. Satisfied it would reach Julia, Quentin released his hold over it and closed his eyes. The paint washed over him, soaking his hair and clothes. Ecstatic at the thought of their win, Quentin reached out to hug Eliot, and without thinking pulled him in for a kiss. 

“Why are you celebrating? You lost.” 

Their kiss is cut short by Julia, and when they opened their eyes, the saw she was standing before them unscathed beneath the safety of an umbrella.

“I literally just found this on a desk,” she said smiling. 

Happiness taken just as quickly as it arrived, they watched helplessly as she exited the building. 

“Wait, where did Margo go?” Eliot asked, having forgotten her role in the plan. 

Quentin’s eyes dropped to the ground, guilty that he hadn’t paid enough attention to Julia to see that she had outsmarted them with a prop. To his surprise, Eliot threw his arm over his shoulder and led him out the front, with a reassuring promise that somehow Margo would always have their back.

——

Margo stood out the front of the library, shotgun pumped and ready to destroy Julia on the off chance she survived Plan A. Quentin’s plan was good, but nothing was foolproof and there was no way she was willing to risk losing. While Julia was distracted by her boys, she had slipped out behind her and waited.

The door to the library opened, and Margo moved one foot back to brace herself against the power of the shotgun. She lined Julia up and pulled the trigger. Instead of paint exploding from the barrel, there was only air. Exposed, she ran for cover, but since Julia had the higher ground, there was nowhere safe for her to hide. 

“Margo, catch.”

She turned to see Todd standing before her. He waved his pistol for her see in the light of the open library doors. Margo ran forward and prayed that he’d left the safety on before he threw it to her. 

Hands free, Todd charged towards Julia. All he needed to do was keep her distracted for a few seconds. He drew her attention toward him, and she aimed her own pistol and fired at his chest. Feeling inspired, he dropped to his knees, opened his arms wide to accept the bullets and screamed. 

“Seriously?” Julia rolled her eyes at his display. 

With Julia confused by Todd’s theatrics, Margo flicked the safety off his gun as she slid feet first across the ground. Not for the first time that day, she was thankful to be wearing boots and not stilettos. Stopped by the bottom of the steps, Margo leaned up and took her shots, her finger stuck to the trigger until every last bullet emptied into Julia’s abdomen.

“Damn, I was aiming for her twat,” she said as she caught her breath.

“Holy shit, Margo,” Quentin said with a look of awe from the door of the library.

“Bambi, you won,” Eliot added. He dragged Quentin down to where Margo laid on the ground, avoiding a shocked Julia at the top of the stairs.

“Of course I did, paintball is my jam. What happened to your faces?” She asked, pointing to their mouths, which were mysteriously absent of the paint that covered the rest of their bodies. “Did you two make out without me?”

“Ohhh.” It all made sense to Todd and he didn’t feel so jealous of Quentin anymore. He only wanted to be Eliot, not with him.

The rest of their friends slowly gathered around and helped both Margo and Todd off the ground. While they congratulated each other on saving the school, Julia slipped away, but no one considered it their problem to deal with.

Bigby appeared to congratulate Margo on her win, and advise that the other two hedge witches were being held in the clean room until a memory wipe could be performed.

“So, where’s my prize? I’m the last woman standing,” Margo asked, the hint of demand lacing her voice.

“Well, it was teams of three and you’re only one person, so technically no one gets the prize.” Bigby played coy.

“But I won. This reeks of conspiracy bullshit.”

“You do get an automatic A in my class, Miss Hanson,” Bigby offered, met with looks of disbelief. The last they had heard she was fired. “Apparently I am on probation, but I do have my job back. This little exercise was the perfect proof that there is still a place for Battle Magic at Brakebills. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have some making up to do with my dear Henry.”

Bigby disappeared, leaving the students lost and confused in the quad. 

“Showers, then we all get fucked up?” Josh offered, breaking the awkward silence. 

“I suppose we all deserve to celebrate,” said Eliot, already turned in the direction of the Physical Cottage, desperate to be rid of the paint that covered him. “Meet us at ours in...forty minutes, and I’ll have drinks ready.”

Josh and Fen left first for the Greenhouse, with a promise to provide edibles, while the rest headed for the Physical Cottage. Victoria had already cleaned herself up, so she joined Penny at the bar when they arrived and got loaded while the others went to clean up.

After a quick shower, Todd went downstairs to find Margo seated on the edge of the comfy jean bag chair. She beckoned him over, gave him a peck on the lips and pushed him into the chair.

“For saving my ass back there,” she smiled at him and handed him a cocktail.

He knew he wouldn’t get any more from her, but that was more than enough. For an evening that started with him missing out on all the fun, he’d happily ended up right in the middle of it all.


End file.
